Public Report No. 51, In the Public Interest: Protecting Students through Effective Oversight of Private Career Training Institutions is a systemic investigation into the oversight and regulation of private career training institutions released by the Ombudsperson on March 23, 2015. This investigation into the Private Career Training Institutions Agency (PCTIA) and Ministry of Advanced Education concluded that a lack of effective oversight mechanisms for this sector leaves students vulnerable. The report contains 31 findings and 36 recommendations directed to the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Recommendations were made in five main areas:

• a governance structure that ensures input from all stakeholders (R1)
• clear and accessible information for students (R2-R5)
• adequate monitoring that uses consistent and appropriate standards and regularly hears from students (R6-R20)
• a system of progressive enforcement that uses administrative penalties and publishes enforcement decisions (R21-R23)
• an expanded and fairer complaints process for students, at the institution level and at the oversight level (R24-R36)

From 2015 to 2021, the Office of the Ombudsperson monitored progress made by the ministry in implementing recommendations from In the Public Interest and reported publicly on the results of this monitoring. In August, 2021, we released our final investigative update which reported that 34 of 36 recommendations had been implemented.

View the 2021 news release here.

Read the 2015 news release here.